Half Year Round Up of My 2025 Book Reads

By Lovelyn Mashave

We've gone through the first half of the year already and honestly, I cannot believe how quickly time is flying. I thought I would read one book a month this year but so far, it has not worked out that way. What's important though, is that I have managed to read some of the books I had on my list, and stumbled upon other books which were not.

Here are reviews of the books I have read so far this year.

A half year round up of my 2025 book reads.

Recently read - The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

This book! I have a deep connection to this book. I first read at the end of 2016, and it changed my life. Gave it a second read a few months ago and it did not disappoint. The rawness. The Vulnerability. The realness. I felt seen, edged on and applauded.

The first time I read The Year of Yes, I recognised the workaholic version of myself. That girl who barely ever made room for fun, and almost always said no to anything that did not relate to my line of work. That young lady who worked late and still took work home. Sitting in bed with her laptop not to beinge on series, but to complete reports and schedule emails. Always answering to the beck and call of clients. I chose, after reading it, to say yes to love. Really say yes to love. Loving myself. Dating myself. Dating my prefered gender. And that resulted in me moving continents for love!

Yuuuup, Shonda's book did that. I left the very thing I had always been chained to. Work. Career plans. Left it all behind and followed love!

The second time I read The Year of Yes, as part of my 2025 book reads, I recognised the mother in myself. That woman who is often grappling for a moment to just be. Shonda's open appreciation for her nanny and everyone in her community who lends a hand with her children and household, ensuring she has time to lay track and make it to meetings and work outside the home, made me see and appreciate myself. Not in likeness, but me being the woman who doesn't have that kind of support and so I have had to make some sacrifices. Her admitance that we can't do it all, rang true in that I have noticed it too, that we have to trade one thing for the other. Work outside the home, for the children. And vice versa. It made me appreciate the choices I have made, the trades I've had to make in this season of my life.

And that wasn't all. You will certainly have to read the book for yourself and I bet you will recognise yourself in there. Even if it's just one detail. If anything, you are guaranteed some good entertainment as this book gives you a front raw seat in Shonda's life. Yes, her actual life, not one of her TV productions!

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Also Recently Read - Musafare by Marshal Shonhai

I borrowed a friend's copy on my last trip to my birthplace and read it on the first lag of my trip back home. That hour and a half from Harare to Johannesburg is all it took. It's an entertaining quick read. Very entertaining. Think Real Housewives of....whichever city you choose. Actually, not any. It needs to be a city of bright lights, in which some form of moral values exist or attempt to coexist with the kind of debauchery reserved for H-Metro and TMZ. Perfect for a gossip piece. Nyaya dzemurayini. Makuhwa.

Musafare is a symbol of many a male individuals in my beloved Zimbabwe. Framed, in this book, in innocence. His actions justified by cultural obligation. He cheats on his wife Mercy. Then falls for the maid because of his wife's neglect of marital obligations. A wife who is purpoted to have only married him for his money and status. Obligations which Mai Kiri, the maid, decided to fulfil because she felt sorry for Musafare. The result? You would need to read it to find out.

At the end of the book, I was convinced, and still am convinced, that there has to be a sequel. That Mai Kiri's story needs to be told. Maybe even Mercy's too. This version paints women in the way women are always painted. Each other's enemy. Self distractive. Negligent of the man's congugal rights so another woman swops in to save the man, and he obliges because he is a man with needs.

I get that's it's fiction. It also just happens to be the reality of many homes and an epidemic which needs to be addressed.

Just finished Reading - Nyika, I Love You by Alice Vye Henningway

I have just finished reading Nyika, I Love You, and what a ride it was!

Based on a true story, this book is about love and hope. A love story, but not the kind one might immediately imagine.

This one is about the love between a girl and her maid. Her nanny, if you will. A love which transcends race, creed and age. A bond which no amount of time or distance could loosen or break. Trust so sure, it could not falter. A selflessness which survived brutal gun attacks on the frontlines of the Rodhesian Bush War.

The juxtaposition of joy and sorrow as Joanna grows up during the Rhodesian Bush War, gives a glimpse into what life was like in the lowveld of a country now known as Zimbabwe.

I had only ever heard tales of that war from an adult's perspective; which are often tainted with the kind of bias only adults are capable of. So seeing it through young Joanna's eyes; her innocent and unbiased view of it, was a fresh perspective.

Given present day events around the world, seeing life in a war zone through young Joanna's eyes felt closer than the 70's. It felt like today. The present. Here and now. Current. Further qualifying its presence of a 2025 book reads list.

The sounds of laughter and shrapnel coexisting in little Joanna's world; felt like a glimpse into the lives of children growing up in present day war zones. It brought to life, Banksy's artwork which shows kids standing on a pile of rifles. Playing.

That even during a war, daily life continues. However it may look, it carries on.

As someone with children, I couldn't bear the thought of any possibility they might one day tell such a story. But I live in Europe and on this very continent, there is a raging war going on, so this book should have scared me. But it didn't. Instead, it gave me hope. Hope that we will get through whatever comes. Hope that love wins. Hope that like Joanna's mum nurtured her children through a war, I too can do it if I ever have to. Hope that if Joanna herself could survive that war and live to tell her story, so will my children. Should it ever come to that. God forbid it ever does.

This read was nostalgic, chucklesome, gripping, and, for me, some parts were relatable.

Joanna being raised in Zimbabwe, the goodies she enjoyed, cultural references, her feelings towards being sent to boarding school, and growing up with house helpers who became family.

I gasped, laughed, sighed, my pupils dilated in shock.

I chuckled, smiled, froze in disdain, felt sadness, relief, sadness again, curiosity.

And now I am eagerly waiting for the sequel.

Nyika, I Love You is on its second edition and available on Amazon. It has been optioned for a film by an LA based film producer. I am looking forward to the film and really hope it will star Zimbabwean actors. That would certainly make if feel real. We do have enough representation in Hollywood to make that happen. Think Sibongile Mlambo, Danai Gurira, Tongayi Chirisa, Regé-Jean Page, Adam Croasdell...etc.

While we wait for the film, let's all read the book shall we! I do recommend it, so yes, add Nyika, I Love You to your 2025 book reads.

If you happen to be in Madrid, join us at The Secret Kingdoms Bookstore on the 12th of September 2025 for a live book reading of Nyika, I Love You by its author, Alice Vye Henningway. Follow my socials for details.

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Current Read 1 - Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I am now reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count. I have read all her other books, except Notes On Grief which I'm just not ready for. I don't know if I ever will be. Being orphaned myself, I feel it will be more relatable than I can handle. While that's not necessarily a bad thing and I have no problems facing my grief, I just am in a season in which I am facing it in other ways. Maybe this is avoidance but I will let it slide for now. I'm in therapy dealing with ALL the things and it's working, so I'll stick to that for now. So for my list of 2025 book reads, I've jumped onto the Dream Count frenzy.

Current Read 2 - When It's Your Turn For Midnight

I started reading this one a few weeks ago and it's been a slow read so far but I'm enjoying being in Mutare with Chianti and her ambuya (grandma).

I will be tandem reading it with Dream Count. I figured since Dream Count is a long book, I might sometimes need to break from it to hear a different voice. Something I needed to do when I read Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls, which I found to be a rather slow and almost boring read , and, Malcom Gladwell's Outlier which I found interesting and informative but breaks from theories of probability and statistics were necessary.

I know Chimamanda's writings are totally different from Elizabeth and Malcom's but these are the only other very long books I have read. Ohhh until I remembered reading the 3 books in the series Mark of The Lion by Francine Rivers! Long but I couldn't put them down. Especially A Voice In The Wind. That one made me miss a few assignment deadlines during my postgrad studies. Thoroughly enjoyed the series. I would gift the entire collection to my daughter but she's only 4, so I'll save that thought for the future.

I do hope that Dream Count turns out to be one of those books you can't put down. That's been the case with her other books when I've read them.

My "I Just Need A Laugh" book read - Bossypants by Tina Fey

I bought this book in an aiport bookstore somewhere in South East Asia, and I'm about to re-re-read it. Yes, third time, and counting. I have a feeling it won't be the last.

I lost my first copy of Bossypants in Malaysia some years ago, and then replaced it with the kindle version.

That didn't quite cut it though. I'm a page flipper, so I need to own my favourite books in paper back or hard cover.

There is something about picking up a book, and flipping through paper pages with a scent I can smell as I read. Then setting it on a bookshelf where it will await my return when I'm ready to pick it up again. So, I recently re-replaced it with a paperback copy from Madrid's favourite English bookstore!

It's the bonus on my list of 2025 Book Reads!

Find a copy, read, and laugh along with me!

Next Read?

The next read from my list of 2025 book reads is.....

...I'm actually struggling to decide. Maybe you can help me? Please?

Which of these titles should I read next?

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Here's an image of my pile of all the unread books in my library. Which one do you recommend I read after Dream Count? Please let me know your recommendations in the comments section below, or wherever you can reach me.

I'm excited to receive everyone's recommendations.

Also, what book are you reading? Or listening to?

If you aren't doing either, which book would you like to read, or listen to?

Let me know in the comments :)